TEMPO.CO, Dubai - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday, November 27, 2014, that he was not against an extension of nuclear talks between the Islamic Republic and members of the P5+1 group.
"For the same reasons I wasn't against negotiations, I'm also not against the extension," Khamenei said in his website.
Khamenei also said that the United States, not Iran, would be the biggest loser should the nuclear talks fail. Iran and six other countries failed to resolve their 12-year stand-off over Tehran's nuclear ambitions on Monday, Nov 24, and gave themselves seven more months to reach an agreement.
The extension was submitted by France and has the support from the White House, following the instinct of US Secretary of State John Kerry to maintain the negotiation, according to close sources of diplomats of the negotiation members.
Senator Mark Kirk, member of the Repulican Party, who is diligent in promoting congressional sanctions against Iran, claimed that the long extended talks make Iran enable to continue their nuclear program without receiving sanction threats.
Kirk said in Washington that Iran will not waste any time and now they have 219 days left.
REUTERS | THE GUARDIAN | DWI ARJANTO